Exploring Emptiness 2.Small prefixes 3. Semantic profiles 4. Constructional profiles 5. Prefix variation 6. Aspectual triplets English version

Semantic Profiling

Chapter 3 "Big Prefixes: Semantic Profiling" aims to prove that the prefixes retain their meanings when they form Natural Perfectives. Chapter 2 analyzed the eleven “small” prefixes using the radial category profiling method. In this chapter we analyze the remaining five “big” prefixes, po-, s-, za-, na-, and pro-, using the semantic profiling method. Whereas the big prefixes pose a challenge for radial category profiling because they combine with a large number of verbs, this abundance is actually an advantage for semantic profiling. Semantic profiling requires data in larger quantities than are available for the small prefixes. Thus the two methods are complementary. Semantic profiling is analysis of the distribution of semantic tags. The Russian National Corpus (RNC) contains semantic tags that classify verbs according to their meanings. We thus have access to an independent classification of the meanings of verbs, and it is possible to see how these classifications are distributed across the prefixes used to form Natural Perfectives.

Statistical analysis

This website gives you access to the data and the statistical analyses that are reported in Chapter 3. This way you can both inspect the data and run the analyses yourself on your own computer. We will guide you through all the steps and provide some commentary, but if you are interested in learning more about using statistical analysis of linguistic data, we recommend that you consult the following books:

How to download R

You can download the R statistical software package to your computer from the R project webpage.

How to download and run the files from this website

On this webpage we offer you files that you can download with the ".R" extension. These are called "R scripts". You can download them by right-clicking on the links on this page. It is important that you download them to your home directory in your computer so that R can find them. If you do not know where your home directory is, you can also copy and paste the R commands from the scripts directly into the R window (see "Alternative methods for running R scripts" below). The R scripts contain all the commands that R needs in order to run the statistical tests. You can open the scripts if you like and see all the commands. We provide commentary on each command in lines that begin with the "#" symbol (R itself ignores all these lines) in order to help you follow along.

How to run the files from this website in R

After you have downloaded an R script, you can open the R program on your computer. At the ">" prompt, type in: source("") and put the name of the R script you want to run between the quotation marks. For example, you can enter a line that looks like this: > source("Ch3Table1.R") and when you hit the return key, R will run the R script and give you all of the results as output.

Alternative methods for running R scripts

If you simply click on the links with the R scripts, you can then copy and paste all of the code into the R window and R will run the commands and give you the same results. Another option is to download the R script to any location in your computer you want to and provide the path to the file when you use the source command. For example, you can enter a line that looks like this: > source("/Users/janedoe/Downloads/Ch3Table1.R") for Mac users or > source("C://Documents/Ch3Table1.R") for PC users. If you do not know the path, you can open your finder to where the R script is and then drag and drop that file into an open R window placing it after the cursor prompt ">". When you do this, R will tell you what the path to the file is and you can copy and paste that into the source command. <

Evaluation of Table 1: Chi-square test and effect size

Dowload this R script to your home directory: Ch3Table1.R and run it according to the directions above. It will give you the chi-squared value, the degrees of freedom, the p-value, and the effect size. You can open and read the commentary in the R script to see how it is done.

CORRECTION: In the original version, there was an error in the calculation of the Cramer’s V value. The actual value is somewhat lower, but still indicates a large effect size. Here is an R script that gives the correct value: Ch3Table1Correct.R.

Expected values for Table 1

We used a simple formula involving the row and column totals in order to calculate the expected values for all the cells in Table 1. Here it is:
expected value = (row sum x column sum) / total sum
The total sum for Table 1 is 382, and all of the row and column totals are listed in Table 1 in Chapter 3. Download this R script to your home directory: Ch3Table1.exp.values.R and run it according to the directions above. It will compute and print out for you all of the expected values for Table 1 in Chapter 3.

Fisher Test values in Table 2

The Fisher Test values reported in Table 2 in Chapter 3 were calculated using this Fisher's Exact Test Calculator. For the cells in Table 1 where the expected value was less than the observed value, we calculated a right-sided p-value. These results are reported with [+] in Table 2 and indicate the probability that we would get this many items or more in the cell given the overall distribution of items. This includes, for example, the cells for pro-/‘sound’ & ‘speech’, po-/‘changest’, etc. For the cells in Table 1 where the expected value was greater than the observed value, we calculated a left-sided p-value. These results are reported with [-] in Table 2 and indicate the probability that we would get this many items or fewer in the cell given the overall distribution of items. This includes, for example, the cells for za-/‘sound’ & ‘speech’, po-/‘impact’, etc. The Fisher test calculates that chance of getting the same or an even more extreme value given the overall distribution of values in a matrix. In order to compute the Fisher test probability, you need to put in four values. These values relate the value in the cell to the sum for the row, the sum for the column, and the sum for the entire table. Here is a sample of the values that would be used for computing the Fisher test probability for pro-/‘sound’ & ‘speech’:

a = value in the given cell
= 51
b = row total - value in the given cell
= 106 - 51
= 55
c = column total - value in the given cell
= 65 - 51
= 14
d = table total - value in the given cell - b - c
= 382 - 51 - 55 - 14
= 262

When we insert these values into the Fisher test calculator on the website and click on compute, it returns the probabilities. Because a = 51 is greater than the expected value (which is only 18 according to the calculations above), we want to know the chances that a could be this large or larger given the overall distribution, so we calculate a right-sided value. The calculator lists this as “prob a >= 51” and gives us the value 5.734e-25. This is the probability that we could get 51 or more verbs in this cell, and is the same as the value that we report in Table 2 in Chapter 3. Below are all of the values needed to use the calculator for the combinations of prefixes and semantic tags, following the cells in Table 1 and indicating which probability (prob a <= x or prob a >= x) should be used, according to the relative sizes of the actual and expected values. You can use these to compute the Fisher test probabilities found in Table 2 of Chapter 3.

CORRECTION: In the original version, there was an error in the calculation of d in this table. This resulted in the incorrect calculation of Fisher test p-value. The table below gives the correct d and the next table shows the correct Fisher test p-values.

semantic tag po- s- na- za- pro-
‘impact’ a = 11, b = 111
c = 110, d = 150
prob a <= 11
a = 23, b = 99
c = 43, d = 217
prob a >= 23
a = 31, b = 91
c = 28, d = 232
prob a >= 31
a = 47, b = 75
c = 24, d = 236
prob a >= 47
a = 10, b = 112
c = 55, d = 205
prob a <= 10
‘changest’ a = 62, b = 40
c = 59, d = 221
prob a >= 62
a = 11, b = 91
c = 55, d = 225
prob a <= 11
a = 3, b = 99
c = 56, d = 224
prob a <= 3
a = 22, b = 80
c = 49, d = 231
prob a >= 22
a = 4, b = 98
c = 61, d = 219
prob a <= 4
‘behav’ a = 11, b = 41
c = 110, d = 220
prob a <= 11
a = 23, b = 29
c = 43, d = 287
prob a >= 23
a = 17, b = 35
c = 42, d = 288
prob a >= 17
a = 1, b = 51
c = 70, d = 260
prob a <= 1
a = 0, b = 52
c = 65, d = 265
prob a <= 0
‘sound’ &‘speech’ a = 37, b = 69
c = 84, d = 192
prob a >= 37
a = 9, b = 97
c = 57, d = 219
prob a <= 9
a = 8, b = 98
c = 51, d = 225
prob a <= 8
a = 1, b = 105
c = 70, d = 206
prob a <= 1
a = 51, b = 55
c = 14, d = 262
prob a >= 51

semantic tag po- s- na- za- pro-
‘impact’[-] 4e-12[+] 0.33[+] 0.0003[+] 3.7e-11 [-] 0.0009
‘changest’[+] 6.3e-13[-] 0.03[-] 5.8e-06[+] 0.22[-] 6.3e-06
‘behav’[-] 0.052[+] 6.5e-07[+] 0.0006[-] 0.0001[-] 2.8e-05
‘sound’ &‘speech’[+] 0.23[-] 0.003[-] 0.005[-] 1.9e-10[+] 3e-21

Full list of verbs in this study

There are 382 verbs in this study, and a full list of these verbs, arranged according to the five prefixes and the semantic tags, is shown on this page. The table below shows what semantic tags are attracted to, neutral to or repulsed from each prefix. The listings in the table work as a hyperlink: if you click on it, you will be directed to the full list of verbs representing this class.

RUS / ENG page

Each page exists in two versions: Version RUS provides all the Russian data using the Cyrillic alphabet, while Version ENG provides the same data transliterated into the Latin alphabet. Note that the lists of verbs are organized in Russian alphabetic order.

prefix po- s- na- za- pro-
Attractions 62 ‘changest’ verbs 23 ‘behav’ verbs
23 ‘impact’ verbs
31 ‘impact’ verbs
17 ‘behav’ verbs
47 ‘impact’ verbs 51 ‘sound’ & ‘speech’ verbs
Neutral 37 ‘sound’ & ‘speech’ verbs
11 ‘behav’
- - 22 ‘changest verbs’ -
Repulsions 11 ‘impact’ verbs 9 ‘speech’ verbs
11 ‘changest’ verbs
3 ‘changest’ verbs
8 ‘speech’ verbs
1 ‘behav’ verb
1 ‘speech’ verb
4 ‘changest’ verbs
10 ‘impact’ verbs

Attractions: 62 ‘changest’ verbs
LemmaGloss
побагроветь turn purple
побелеть turn white
побледнеть turn pale
поблекнуть lose color
побуреть turn brown
повзрослеть mature
повлажнеть become damp
поглупеть become stupid
поголубеть turn blue
подешеветь become cheaper
подлиннеть become longer
подорожать increase in price
подурнеть grow ugly
пожелтеть turn yellow
поздороветь turn recuperate
позеленеть turn green
позеленить paint green
позлатиться turn golden
позолотеть turn golden
покраснеть turn red
покрупнеть grow larger
полеветь shift leftward
полегчать lessen, abate
полиловеть turn violet
помолодеть get younger-looking
помрачнеть turn dark
помутнеть muddy
помягчеть get soft
поплотнеть grow stout; become dense
пополнеть grow stout
поправеть shift rightward
попростеть become unpretentious
поредеть thin out
порозоветь turn pink
порyжеть turn reddish
порябеть get speckled
посахарить sugar
посвежеть freshen
поседеть turn gray
посереть turn grizzly
посерьезнеть become serious
посечься tear
посиветь turn gray
посизеть turn blue-gray
посинеть turn dark blue
посмирнеть become quiet
посмуглеть turn swarthy
поспеть ripen
посуроветь become severe
потеплеть get warmer
потончать become thin
потрескаться split
потускнеть turn dim
потускнуть turn dim
поумнеть grow wiser
похолодеть cool down
похолоднеть cool down
похорошеть grow prettier
похрабреть become braver
похудать get slimmer
похудеть get slimmer
почернеть turn black

Neutral: 37 ‘sound’ & ‘speech’ verbs (35 ‘speech’ and 2 ‘sound’)
LemmaGloss
поблагодарить thank
побожиться swear
повиниться confess
поворожить tell fortunes
погуторить chat
пожалиться complain
пожалобиться complain
пожаловаться complain
позвать call
позвониться ring
поздороваться say hello
поинтересоваться be curious about
поклясться swear
полаяться bark
помолиться pray
пообещать promise
пообещаться promise
попенять blame
поприветствовать welcome
попросить request
попроситься ask for
поручиться guarantee
посетовать complain
посмеяться laugh
посоветоваться get advice
поспорить argue
посулить promise
посулиться promise
поторопить hurry
потребовать require
похвалить praise
похвалиться boast
похвастать brag
похвастаться brag
походатайствовать intercede
поцапаться bicker
пошутить make a joke

Neutral: 11 ‘behav’
LemmaGloss
поделикатничать be soft on smby.
пожадничать act greedy
покуражиться swagger
полениться act lazy
поосторожничать be over-cautious
поскупиться scrimp
послушаться obey
постесняться be shy
потешиться amuse
похлопотать hustle about
поцеремониться stand on ceremony

Repulsions: 11 ‘impact’ verbs
LemmaGloss
побрить shave
побриться shave
подоить milk
подраться fight
поколотить wallop
покоробить warp
покрyть cover
покусать bite
почесаться scratch oneself
пощекотать tickle
пощупать touch, feel

Attractions: 23 ‘behav’ verbs
LemmaGloss
свеликодушничать do something generous
сглупить do something stupid
сдвурушничать be a double-dealer
с”ехидничать speak maliciously
сжулить cheat
сжульничать cheat
слевачить work on the side
слиберальничать play the liberal
словчить dodge
слукавить be cunning
смалодушествовать act like a coward (once)
смалодушничать act like a coward (once)
смошенничать cheat
смухлевать swindle
снахальничать be impudent
собезьянничать ape
созорничать play tricks
соригинальничать do something original
сподличать act meanly
спровоцировать provoke
схалтурить do something carelessly
схимичить contrive
схитрить do something clever

Attractions: 23 ‘impact’ verbs
LemmaGloss
сброшюровать stitch up
сварганить knock off
сварить cook
свить twist; weave
связать tie, knit
сделать make, do
сжать reap
сжечь burn down
скомкать crumple
скопнить stook
скулемать crumple
смастерить craft, build
смонтировать mount
состряпать cook
сработать work out
сравнять even out
срубить chop down
ссучить twist
стреножить hobble
сфабриковать fabricate
сфальцевать fold
сфуговать joint
сшить sew

>
Repulsions: 9 ‘speech’ verbs
LemmaGloss
сагитировать campaign for
скаламбурить make a pun
скомандовать command
сориентировать orient
сострить make a witty remark
срифмовать make a rhyme
сторговаться strike a bargain
сформулировать formulate
съязвить say sth sarcastic

Repulsions: 11 ‘changest’ verbs
LemmaGloss
свариться get cooked
сгнить rot
сгноить let rot
сжаться shrink
сконденсировать condense
скособочиться get lopsided
смягчить make softer
состарить age
состариться age
створожить curdle
створожиться curdle

Attractions: 31 ‘impact’ verbs
LemmaGloss
набелиться whiten
набронзировать bronze
наваксить polish (shoe)
наворсить tease (fibers)
наворсовать tease (fibers)
навощить wax
наглянцевать glaze
нагофрировать crimp
наканифолить apply rosin
накостyлять give a good drubbing
накрахмалить starch
намалеваться paint (ones face)
намелить chalk
намyлить soap
намyлиться soap (oneself)
наодеколонить sprinkle with cologne
наохрить apply ochre
напичкать force-feed
наплоить quill
напомадить pomade
напомадиться pomade oneself
напрyскать sprinkle
насандалить apply sandalwood
насурьмить cover with surma
насурьмиться paint onself with dye
нафабрить stain (mustaches)
нафабриться stain (mustaches)
нахохлить ruffle up
нашинковать shred
нашпиговать apply lard
намозолить work until one has callouses

Attractions: 17 ‘behav’ verbs
LemmaGloss
набедокурить get into mischief
набезобразничать behave disgracefully
набузить make a row
нагрубиянить be rude
надебоширить kick up a row
наерундить play the fool
накаверзить make tricks
накаверзничать make tricks
накуролесить play tricks
наплевать spit
напроказить play pranks
напроказничать play pranks
напyжиться puff up
насвинячить make a dirty act
нахулиганить behave like a hooligan

Repulsions: 3 ‘changest’ verbs
LemmaGloss
надyмить fill with smoke
нахолодить cool
наèлектризовать electrify

Repulsions: 8 ‘speech’ verbs
LemmaGloss
нагрубить be rude
надерзить be fresh with smb.
наклеветать gossip
накляузничать libel
напророчить prophesize
насплетничать gossip
нахамить be rude
наябедничать snitch

Attractions: 47 ‘impact’ verbs
LemmaGloss
заасфальтировать cover with asphalt
забалластировать load with ballast
забаррикадировать barricade
забаррикадироваться barricade oneself
забетонировать concrete
забинтовать bandage
забодать gore
забронировать reserve
забутить fill with rubble
завуалировать veil
загатить make a brushwood road
загипсовать cover with gypsum
загудронировать cover road with tar
задекорировать decorate
задрапировать drape
задрапироваться drape
зазубриться get notched
закамуфлировать camouflage
законсервировать preserve
закрепить fasten
закристаллизовать crystallize
залатать patch
замаркировать mark
замаскировать mask
замаскироваться mask
замесить knead
заминировать mine
замордовать victimize
замусолить slobber all over
замyзгать make filthy
заплатать patch
запрудить dam up
запятнать soil
засилосовать store in a silo
заскирдовать mow up
засуслить slobber all over
засусолить slobber all over, suck
затаврить brand
заторцевать trim
затушевать shade
затюковать pack in bales
захлороформировать chloroform
зашнуроваться lace up
зашпаклевать putty
зашпунтовать groove
заштопать darn
заштуковать mend

Neutral: 22 ‘changest verbs’
LemmaGloss
завшиветь become lousy
загрязнить make dirty
загрязниться get dirty
загустеть thicken
заиндеветь get covered with frost
законспирировать make secret
закоснеть stagnate
залубенеть harden
замариновать marinate
замерзнуть freeze
замуслиться get covered with slobber
замусолиться get covered with slobber
заплесневеть become moldy
запyлиться get covered with dust
зарубцеваться get covered with a scar
застуденеть become jellied
затвердеть harden
затравенеть get covered with grass
захилеть become sickly
захиреть fall into decay
зачахнуть wither
зашершаветь become rough

Repulsions: 1 ‘behav’ verb
LemmaGloss
задурить become unreasonable

Repulsions: 1 ‘speech’ verb
LemmaGloss
законтрактовать make a contract

Attractions: 51 ‘sound’ & ‘speech’ verbs (23 ‘sound’ and 28 ‘speech’)
LemmaGloss
пробасить talk in a deep voice
пробормотать mutter
пробренчать  jingle
пробрехать  yelp, bark
пробрюзжать grumble
пробряцать clank
пробубнить mutter
пробурчать grumble
проверещать squeal
провещать prophesy
прогавкать bark
прогоготать cackle
прогреметь thunder
прогромyхать rumble
прогрохотать crash, rumble
прогудеть buzz
продекламировать recite
продиктовать dictate
прозвенеть ring
прозвучать sound, be heard
проинструктировать instruct
проинтервьюировать interview
проинформировать inform
проквакать croak
прокомментировать comment
проконсультировать offer consultation
проконсультироваться consult
прокричать yell
прокукарекать crow
прокуковать cuckoo
пролаять bark
пролепетать babble
пролопотать splutter
промурлyкать purr
промyчать moo
промямлить hum and haw
промяукать meow
пропесочить criticize
просвистеть whistle
просигналить signal
просклонять decline; bandy about
проспрягать conjugate
протелеграфировать telegraph
протелефонировать telephone
протявкать yelp
проурчать rumble
прохрипеть wheeze
процитировать quote
прошептать whisper
проэкзаменовать examine
проэкзаменоваться be examined

Repulsions: 10 ‘impact’ verbs
LemmaGloss
пробуравить bore, drill
пробурить bore, drill
провентилировать ventilate
провеять winnow
продезинфицировать apply disinfectant
продисковать break up soil with a disk-shaped harrow
произвестковать apply lime (soil)
промотyжить hoe
просверлить drill, perforate
протаранить ram

Repulsions: 4 ‘changest’ verbs, 0 ‘behav’ verbs
LemmaGloss
прогоркнуть become bitter
пропитаться become saturated
прохудиться get worn out
прояснеть clear up